Air Saftey Of Children Is Source Of Debate

NEW YORK — The Federal Aviation Administration requires that every airline passenger wear a seat belt during takeoffs and landings -- everyone, that is, except children under the age of 2.

Parents have two options: They can hold children in their laps, or since 1982 they have been allowed to provide their own government-certified child's safety seat. But very few parents use the safety seats on board because it generally means having to buy a ticket for children who would otherwise fly free of charge.

Given the FAA policy, travelers may have assumed that unrestrained children face little safety risk on aircraft. In fact, an unrestrained passenger of any age faces a higher risk of death or injury in a survivable crash or severe turbulence than passengers who are strapped into safety seats or belts. ''A child under 2 is as susceptible to injury as anybody else who is unrestrained,'' said Gale E. Braden, an FAA aviation inspector.

This means that it is up to parents to weigh the issue of child safety. Essentially, they must decide whether they want to pay the cost to give their children the same level of protection that they themselves have.

In the meantime, a safety group has petitioned the FAA on an issue related to the safety seats. The petition requests the agency to promote the use of safety seats by requiring airlines to provide them to parents who want to use them. Explaining the absence of a rule mandating the use of children's safety seats, the agency says that the number of children who have died is so small that, statistically, it is difficult to justify the seats' cost effectiveness. ''We prefer the use of safety seats, but at the same time we don't have the statistical backup to require their use,'' said Fred Farrar, an agency spokesman.

In 1980 to 1984, scheduled American carriers made over five million flights a year and had, on average, two crashes and 50 deaths a year. (This average includes 1980, where there were no deaths and no crashes.)

''The numbers don't mean anything,'' said Lynne Smith, program analyst for the National Transportation Safety Board. ''There may only be one chance in a million that there will be an accident, but that one chance might be yours -- a parent dealing with a child's life might not want to take that risk.'' The safety board is an independent government agency that investigates transportation accidents and recommends regulatory changes to improve safety. The board has not formally taken a position on whether child safety seats should be required. ''My personal feeling,'' Smith said, ''is that it ought to be up to the parents whether they wish to pay full fare for infants in safety seats.''

The board was a primary force behind getting automobile safety seats mandated in over 40 states and in getting the FAA to accept the use of any child safety restraints on aircraft. Apart from its desire to increase the safety of children on planes, the board wanted a uniform approach to child safety in automobiles and aircraft.

In a car or plane crash at speeds greater than about 30 miles an hour, an adult would be unable to restrain a child, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, an industry-supported research organization. In an accident, the child might hit the car windshield or another seat back in a plane. If an adult were somehow able to restrain a child, the child could suffer severe injuries from the impact of the adult's torso.

After more than a dozen years of considering the issue of child restraints, the FAA set technical standards in 1982 -- standards that differed and were less stringent than those written by the Department of Transportation for safety seats used in automobiles, according to the safety board. The two sets of standards were formally combined Feb. 25, after years of debates, but there was little technical change.

Currently, any safety seat manufactured is certified for use in both cars and airplanes. Furthermore, the FAA allows the use of any car seat manufactured after Jan. 1, 1981, in compliance with motor vehicle safety standards. But parents have complained that some airline staff members did not know the rules and that they erroneously forbade the use of seats lacking a label indicating it met with FAA approval.